


Forgotten Shadows

by LightStorm (orphan_account)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: F/M, May become Mature later on?, Mild Violence/Description of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-20
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:23:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/LightStorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When White comes across a vicious group of Houndoom wrecking havoc in the woods, she knows something isn't right. Rescuing a familiar face, she can't help but be curious about why the scrawniest member of the Shadow Triad was being hunted down at all. Trouble is brewing in the Unova region, and it's not just Team Plasma's doing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> A pretty long first chapter FYI

On that night in the middle of November, I’ll admit that I had had the scare of my life. It just began like any normal night after all. I wasn’t expecting anything different. Black and I were enjoying one of the last opportunities to watch the starlit sky before the landscape turned white and snowy. 

We sat on a hill located in Route 1, about in the middle; close enough to our houses to make it back safely. "It's pretty." I hummed, staring at the twinkling sky. It seemed somehow more beautiful tonight, I thought. The stars were shining more intensely, like they each had their own soul. I heard him chuckle.

"Yeah. You were always about sparkly stuff, weren't you, White?" He asked with a smirk, his eyes glued to the sky as I glanced at him. I nodded slightly, a smile of my own coming to my face as I looked back to the sky. We lied in the quiet dimness of the night, despite the cool grass. Apart from my usual attire I wore a thin sweatshirt. Black was always telling me to dress warmer, but I usually shrugged it off. My stubborn attitude more often came back to bite me than not. On nights like that though, sometimes he would wrap me in his arms, causing me to spark with warmth. Not only of the body, but of the heart. It was nice to know he cared at least-- That's what made it worth avoiding jackets and long jeans.

We weren't really anything yet, though. Just very close friends. Bianca and Cheren were also a part in our foursome. For a while I thought N could possibly become a close friend of everyone’s, but that idea crumbled when I found out he was the leader of Team Plasma. Later on he had redeemed himself though—His father was the one to blame for N’s ignorance. When he realized this as well, he and Reshiram had left to find their purpose and I happily wished them luck.

I smiled to myself. The memories of adventure; they were pretty sweet. 

The night dragged out, and around midnight clouds began covering up the sky. I stood, surprising the exhausted boy next to me. "I'm turning in for the night…" Giving him a small smile, I kissed him lightly on the cheek, understanding that he saw it as a way to say goodnight and nothing more. He smiled as I stood up, and reminded me of the dangers of night.

"Be careful, alright? Team Plasma got trashed not too long ago, thanks to an epic trainer," he winked, "but that doesn't mean they're not still lurking around or looking for revenge." I shrugged him off with a snort, about to leave when he called out, cruelly yet playfully.

"Oh, and watch out for zombies~" He said in the sweetest tone.

My teeth ground with a bit of annoyance. He knew that I would be overly cautious now that he's mentioned the undead. I mean, people get lost in forests all the time. Well, forests they're not familiar with. I said a final goodbye, walked down the hill scowling. Half at Black, half at the rustles of leaves. Possibly Pokemon… or zombies. Just to be safe I let out my Samurott.

We walked in silence for a while, Samurott trotting around me as if it was the middle of day. I supposed that I should let my Pokemon out more, not just for battles. He finally calmed down, and I spoke to him softly, passing the time by telling him some puns and jokes, which he snorted at. "Why do seagulls live by the sea?"

Snort.

"Because if they lived by a bay they would be called bagels!" I rolled my eyes at my own joke. It was a pretty old one, and by the way Samurott groaned I probably had told him that one before. The night dragged on, finally a few rays of dim light streaming through the leaves… further down the path, though. I looked at the sky, which was ominously dark. Samurott was sniffing the air with a disturbed look on his face. My sense of smell wasn't the best, but as we moved cautiously closer, my nose wrinkled in disgust. It was a horrible burning smell… smoke and something else. I looked to Samurott, and he nodded. Leaping onto his back, we galloped forward quickly. 

Several small fires were scattered in the woods, spreading quickly. We stopped to put them out thoroughly, Samurott also casting Rain Dance over the area for precaution when we heard a bloodcurdling scream. I flinched at the sound, my eyes widening. The other fires would have to wait.

Samurott plowed through the brush easily and quickly, and I had to hold on for my dear life. Anything that got in the way was viciously torn to shreds, but soon the lush green leaves that he was thrashing through turned to full fledged flames, and I could feel the tongues of fire reaching out to burn me. Another helpless scream echoed, and Samurott swung his head to the left a bit, modifying his original path to direct himself more towards the yelling. We came to what seemed an edge of a clearing, and Samurott stopped in front of a wall of flames. "Hydro Cannon!" I called, and my Pokémon shot a column of water through the flames.

The wall fell away, and Samurott leapt through while he could. It closed up again very quickly, to my surprise. This definitely wasn’t a normal fire. I got off; I could see a couple Houndoom staring at me from the other end of the clearing, the figures illuminated in the fire’s light. One was more near the center, snout smoking as if it he just used an attack. A figure was standing behind the pack of hell dogs, and another sort of smoldering figure was lying in front of the center Houndoom. The creature had its mouth open as if about to snap the neck of the person on the ground, but stopped sharply, looking up at Samurott and me. It howled with fury and blood lust, bolting forward, paying no mind to the person it stepped on with its blade-like claws. The silhouette behind the pack made no move to control their Pokémon, and I called on my own to counter the advancing Houndoom.

Samurott shot a few blasts of water at the Fire-Type, which it dodges easily, jumping and shooting flames at us. He shielded me from the fire, and pulled out his shell swords, motioning to the limp figure twice with his left sword as if he were a general in the army. I nodded, sprinting through the high grass. It was practically scorched; the dead foliage dry and noisy. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the leading Houndoom lunge at me, but Samurott struck it down as if to say that their battle wasn't over. 

The Houndoom's trainer pointed at me, making a sort of growling sound, and the rest of the pack, who hadn't moved a muscle, jumped up, beginning to madly sprint, jaws open, towards me. Pulling out a Pokéball and pressing the button, my Zekrom appeared in a flash of light, utterly confused with why he had been torn away from a wonderful dream and instead thrown into a battle. He saw the incoming Houndoom, deciding to take out his drowsy anger on them. A black fist came down on one of the Houndoom, his tail taking out another lucky Pokemon that had jumped out of the way. He shifted his eyes to me. 

"These Houndoom are attacking us! Something’s not right here." I emphasized. "Just defeat them, I can't tell you what attacks to use right now!" I called up to the legendary Pokémon. It nodded, turning back to battle. I continued as Zekrom corralled the Pokémon to the side, roaring threateningly. Confident in my Pokémon, I was not able to turn back towards the hurt figure, now clearer in my vision. The growls and yelps of Pokémon echoed around me- I couldn't tell who was who. The figure—a boy-- was a wreck, yet he seemed oddly familiar to me. His hair was white, I could tell, but it was matted with red liquid. To boot, his right leg seemed twisted at an odd angle. His body was covered with scratch marks and bites, his black jumpsuit seemed to be scorched beyond black could even go, and where the fire had hit the flesh exposed by the torn cloth his skin was an angry red. Very red. Like blood. 

I didn't like blood. I still don't like blood. I felt ready to vomit. Of course this wasn’t the time or place for that. I hesitated to do anything. What could I do? I wasn’t a professional or anything. I found myself muttering to him, although it felt like I was trying to more-so comfort myself. "It's okay, you're going to be okay." His eyes opened, looked at me, and he tried to say something, but failed, instead coughing weakly.

I tried to pick him up, but he cried out in pain, and similarly my weak arms cried out in protest. Setting the very little part of him I had gotten off the ground down, I reached for a Pokéball. Maybe one of my Pokémon could lift him more easily. I stopped abruptly when a howl came from behind me. I then realized which Pokémon had been yelping with pain behind me—not the opponents. I whipped around, but couldn't protect myself against the advancing Houndoom properly. The two of us began to fall backwards… Where the victim was lying, wounded. ‘Shit.' I stretched out my arm to do a pose that reminded me of some crazy table-like yoga maneuver, the Houndoom scratching at my clothes to climb my torso to find my throat. 

Zekrom had seemed to notice my position, but when he tried to get way from the battle against the various other Houndoom, another would pop up to preoccupy him again.

I lifted a leg, smashing my foot into the hound Pokémon’s stomach, and it fell away, seemingly out of breath. It unfortunately found the will to fight seconds after, and lunged at me, claws outstretched. I panicked. What drove me to do what I did next must have been some long lost survival instinct. I widened my palms, diving at the beast, and I suddenly was on the ground, a Houndoom writhing under my grip on its throat and left shoulder. My eyes widened. What was I doing, had I gone crazy? Fighting a Pokemon? Alone? 

The Pokemon realized, smelled my fear. It seemingly smiled straight at me, opening its mouth. My hand on its throat squeezed tighter. A claw was thrust into my ribs. A small ember was erupting… Tighter. Closer… I closed my eyes; the fire was there. I would be burned like it or not, even if I squeezed tighter. Suddenly I was wrenched away, in such a matter that my skull rattled, and my vision went black. An earsplitting roar of rage echoed through the area, so load that my ears buzzed. Yelps and whimpers were mixed in with the cracking of earth, and I pulled myself onto my elbows, the darkness melting away slightly. A storm had suddenly materialized to accompany the rain.

'Zekrom…' I thought to myself in a dazed manner. I attempted to get up, but billowing winds blew me down. Trying again, this time the winds were less rough, but only because Zekrom had taken a breath, preparing to bellow again. I knew when Zekrom got to this point it was dangerous to encounter him- Outrage was one of the most destructive Dragon-Type attacks known. It was times like this that made me regret teaching it to him. I was thrown back again, my head aching. I closed my eyes, and suddenly felt something gingerly bite me around the arm. At first I thought it was the Houndoom, too stubborn to turn back without killing its prey. My eyes snapped open. The Houndoom's prey… What happened to the boy? I looked up to whoever was holding onto my arm. It was a wounded Samurott. 

He was trying to pull me away. I pulled back, and the Pokémon let go, but looked utterly confused. I got up, fighting the wind and earth being thrown into the air. A small crevice that would surely grow was to the right. I looked for the colors white, red, or black, and found them. The boy was desperately trying to push himself off the field of battle. He had determined, hardened eyes, but his arms still shook despite his efforts, and the longer he tried, the more pained he looked. I stumbled over to him, lifting him up by under his arms, and dragging him towards the edge of the clearing. He gasped, as if the pain took him, and his jaw clenched.

Samurott limped over to me, offering his back to us. I pulled the boy onto his back, but refused to get on, too. Samurott was already tired out. I looked back at the clearing, and we raced toward Nuvema Town. 

As we ran I couldn't help but look at him. His eyes had closed, I wondered if he was unconscious, sleeping, or worse. It would be hard to sleep on a galloping Pokemon, so I guessed unconscious. I hoped unconscious. As we entered the town, Black was already there. He looked nervous and panicked.

"White! You're alright!" He tackle-hugged me, and then pulled away quickly. "You're bleeding!" He muttered, half to himself. I looked down, and then remembered the Houndoom's claw. … Houndoom. I jolted out of my trance. 

"Stop fussing over me, Black!" I growled angrily. "I'm not the one who needs to be worried about! That Pokémon Center is built by now, right?"

"It's been done for a while." He snorted. "What's so impor-" He looked behind me, and seeing the figure on top of Samurott, swore. "Holy Shit. Come on, it's in the center of town."

He guided us quickly, and at the center of town was the Pokémon Center. The claw marks were making me feel… dizzy… They felt as if they were burning. Increasing the pain every second. My vision was slipping, and I misplaced my footing. All I saw then was black.


	2. An Unlikely Acquaintance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to combine 2 shorter chapters for this one.

I woke up with a figure leaning in my face, peering at me. My vision was a bit blurry, but the person spoke, and I recognized the voice as Black's. "White! You're okay, right?" He brushed my cheek with his hand a bit nervously, getting some of my bronze hair out of my face. I realized my hat was off. I sat up, coughing a bit. My breathing sounded a lot wispier than it should have. 

"What happened?" I asked, clearing my throat after. It didn't seem to help my lungs at all. I pulled off the covers, standing up. I wasn't in my room. I also noticed that my Pokéballs were gone. "Where are my Pokémon?" 

Black jumped up at my sudden movement, and forced me to sit down again. I snorted at his worrying. "You took in too much smoke last night," He said, smiling sheepishly, "you should really rest. You're in the Pokémon Center, and the Pokémon you had were sent back to your house, your mom has them. Well, most of 'em. Zekrom flew off somewhere, and Samurott left after he got you and that guy to the center to go put out the fires." He quieted, staring at me. Zekrom wandering around wasn't a good thing. I sighed. 

"I'll have to go find Zekrom, then…" Black shook his head, and beamed.

"It's fine! I caught this awesome Pokemon while you were away on your journey. You see, for vacation I went to this place called Lacunosa Town…" He told me of his journey to Lacunosa, where he found an ice covered cave. Deep inside was a Pokemon, which he caught. After that he began another story about seeing a Biberial, which I really didn't care about. Not having the heart to tell him, I pretended to fall asleep. "I guess you were more tired out that you thought. Good night, White. Or morning, I guess." I could hear the smile in his voice. He got up; I could hear the chair squeak against the wooden floor, and left the room. His footsteps quieted, and I leapt up. Smoke, shmoke. I just tripped, that's all. Turning the knob of the door, I peered out into the hallways.

Nobody was there. I punched into the air, victorious. Yep, I'm pretty awesome.

Tiptoeing through the long corridors, I found myself in the lobby. A Nurse Joy was there, but she looked a lot different than the usual lot of them. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she had a bandana with the red cross on it instead of the cap-like hat. She also looked much younger than someone who ran a Pokémon Center would. Noticing me, she turned and waved.

"Oh, hello!" She said cheerfully. "Are you feeling okay?" I nodded a bit curtly. "Oh, okay. You weren't burned, were you? That other boy was burned pretty badly. What type of Pokémon was it? Can you identify what attacks it used?" Her mouth went a mile a minute, and I was a bit overwhelmed by it. 

I put up my hands. "Hold on! Okay… Yes, I'm fine; No, just scratched a bit; there were Houndoom, an-"

"Aha!" He said rather loudly. "Of course! Houndoom's fire has certain toxic chemicals in it! That's why the regular Burn Heal didn't work!" She pulled out a notepad and noted furiously on something within our almost one-sided conversation.

"T-toxic?" I asked nervously. She nodded quickly, turning to the cabinets behind her. She tossed me a jar of what looked like pale green ointment. 

"You may want to use some of that on your scratch." She shuffled through the remaining medicines, plucking several from the shelves. "Houndoom burns are said to hurt forever in legend! How exciting! I'll get to work right away!" I could see a bright, wide smile on her face. She scooped the numerous vials up in her arms, and sprinted down the hall without a second look at me.

'Holy…' For some reason I didn't trust her with a human guinea pig. She seemed innocent, but definitely not harmless.

I finally caught up with her, and bent over exhaustedly, resting my hands on my knees. I hacked a bit. Maybe Black was right; I should've gotten some more sleep when I had the chance. 

"Oh, you're going to help?" She asked, and I looked up at her. She was smiling sweetly. Without giving me a chance to answer, she rammed her elbow into the knob on the door and it opened. "Come on!"

"Wait!" I huffed, running in after her. She carefully laid the several cream and liquid vials onto the bed. The figure lying in the bed was mostly the same as yesterday, but there were bandages wherever he had been bleeding. He jumped as he noticed our presence, sitting up. The figure winced a bit, but it didn't hide the fear in his eyes as he stared at us. He was grinding his teeth. I wondered if the rumors about Houndoom's fire were true. He edged away from us, but it seemed to hurt his burns more, and Joy grabbed his arm. I knew it was good-natured, but it probably wasn't the most sensitive thing to do. He yelped, and tried to pull away again. The beds weren't really that big, and as she let go he fell off onto his back on the other side. 

I pursed my lips, and ran around to the other side. He rolled to his side, shaking. His face was buried into his arms and not visible. I kneeled next to him, cautious of my actions. "Are you okay?" I asked quietly. The overly energetic Nurse Joy was creeping around the side of the bed, and I put up a hand to stop her. She sat on the ground rather obediently, a confused look coming over her face. At least she had some restraint. I heard a shaky sigh and turned my head back to him. His hand was up to his mask, checking it was there. To his relief, it seemed, it was. He was looking at me, but fear still showed in his chalky white eyes. "You're part of the Shadow Triad, right?" He flinched, but I couldn't tell if it was that he was scared of me or because I had mentioned the Triad. "Do you remember me? You three used to lead me to N." He tried to push himself off the floor and winced. I gingerly tried to help him up, but he shrank away from my touch, and gave up. He looked at me again.

"W…" He started, and began to cough. His voice was wispy, but young. Coughing seemed to pain him greatly, and he breathed heavily for a couple seconds before trying to sit up again. This time he was able to. He leaned back against the bed for a split second, but immediately grimaced again and leaned forward. 

"You're burned pretty badly," Joy said, matter-of-factly. "Houndoom burns, too." He stared at the floor, refusing to acknowledge us any longer. He seemed to see where she was going. "You're going to have to take off your gear if you want your injuries to heal." He shook his head no, refusing to shift his gaze. She sighed. "Alright, you should get some rest at least, then. Maybe you'll change your mind later?" Joy stood, a tint of disappointment in her gaze as she left the room. Apparently it was a rhetorical question. 

We sat in silence for a few seconds as the door closed quietly. I looked at him, but he was intensely staring at the floor. "Come on," I said, standing, "up you go." He finally shifted his leering to me. Behind the cold in his eyes was tiredness. He sighed softly, and began to cough again. I kneeled next to him, waiting for his to regain his breath. I gave him a questioning look, and he nodded stiffly. I lifted him from under the knees and shoulders in the classic cradle position, struggled, but managed to set him as gently on the bed as I could. The ninja stared at me briefly, and then closed his eyes with a calming breath. I began to walk towards the door, but felt something weakly clutch my arm. 

I looked over my shoulder; it was him. I felt myself smile ever so slightly, and I sat leaning against his bedside, listening as his breaths slowed as he drifted to sleep. Soon I was in the same state.


	3. A Compromise of Sorts

I woke up rather unpleasantly, the energetic Nurse Joy from earlier had snuck in surprisingly quietly for someone like her; I was a pretty light sleeper. She was not, however, careful about how to wake someone up. I was awakened by a few quick shakes of the shoulders, my eyes eventually coming to focus on her groggily. “…Hm?”

“Has he decided yet?” She asked eagerly. She seemed to be trying to whisper, but her voice was still pretty loud. I felt the hand, which still had previously grasped mine loosely tighten its grip. She had ended up waking him too I suppose, although he didn’t seem to be showing it openly yet. I frowned a bit. She was being too pushy, although personally I did agree with her. His wounds would need to be taken care of.

“…I think you need to give him time to decide. It’s not an easy decision for him.” The fingers around my own seemed to relax slightly.

“But… Don’t you agree that those burns need to be taken care of?” She frowned-- She must have thought I would have tried to persuade him or something. “They’ll just get worse you know.”

“Look, I’m not saying that ignoring his wounds is the best decision, but if he doesn’t want the help you can’t force it on him. That’s not how it works. Or at least, I’m pretty sure,” I muttered lowly. She pouted a bit, mumbling something about ‘no fun’ before collapsing to sit cross-legged in front of me.

“… You’re right, but there’s nothing to do. I’m so bored…” She rested her hands on her knees.

I made a face at her. I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to consider experimenting on people with medicines as a hobby. We went into a small silence, sans her tapping fingers on the wooden floor. Directing my attention to the bed, I spoke up. “You’re awake, right?”

The nurse suddenly perked up, looking past me attentively. His eyes flickered open now that it was plainly obvious he had been found out. He looked coldly towards the two of us, his light grey eyes void of any recognizable emotion. He didn’t attempt to move beyond that.

“Do you need anything?” Joy asked enthusiastically. “If you’re hungry or thirsty I can get you something.”

He pushed himself up shakily, wincing, but made it to a sitting position nonetheless. “… N-No,” he finally was able to answer after a few struggling breaths.

“Your voice is really hoarse…! I’ll go get you some water!” With that she was sprinting out of the room, entirely discarding his previous answer. He watched her go, caution and a bit of worry plastered on his face. I sighed.

“She really is a handful… And I’ve only known her since…” I suddenly realized that I had no idea how long I had been asleep. I carefully let go of the Triad member’s hand to be able to see my C-Gear screen. “Oh, wow. It is almost 5 in the afternoon. I guess considering how impatient she seems, that’s a long time to wait.” Shrugging, I let my hand drop to the floor. He blinked at me, his facial expression relaxing a bit, despite the fact that he still looked in pain. I frowned. “Are you okay?”

It took a few moments to muster up the words. “I’m… F-Fine.” By the way his face contorted as he began to cough immediately after, it was obvious that this wasn’t the case.

“Hey, I’m back!” Joy walked back into the room with a quick pace, holding a cup of water and a bendy straw. “I figured you wouldn’t want to take your mask off, so here! I got you a straw. That should help, right?” She looked particularly proud to be of use, smiling happily as she held it out to him. He took it hesitantly after sending a sharp glance my way, drinking the water slowly through the straw. He stopped occasionally because of coughing fits, but ended up emptying the whole glass. It was handed back to Joy, who accepted it delightedly.

“Is your throat feeling a bit better?” I asked, tilting my head a bit. He nodded hesitantly, sliding silently back down into the covers. He still didn’t seem willing to discuss the more urgent situation at hand.

He gave a short cough. “Y… Yes.”

There was a small silence before Joy spoke up again. “Well, it would probably be good for you to rest a while more.” She stood, lingering at the door. “Um, I’ll check up on you later to make sure your bandages are clean!” With that she was gone, skittishly wandering the hallways, probably looking for something to do.

I turned back to the Triad member. “Do… You want me to stay here again?” With the absence of the nurse his guarded body language seemed to relax a bit.

“…Alright.” His voice was still wispy and worn, but at least he throat didn’t seem as sore as before. I nodded a bit; that was the closest to an affirmative as I would probably get, leaning back against the bed frame once again.


End file.
